<p>I have seen this thread for other colleges and found it interesting. I'll start.
D rejected UVa for Michigan Honors. She loved UVa on her visit, but she thought it was a little homogeneous as compared to UM. Plus the big Med School at UM was a plus as was the big time sports. Plus she got a partial scholarship to UM that made it a little bit cheaper. She would have gone to UVa in a heartbeat, but thought UM was a little better fit for her.</p>
<p>I didn’t…</p>
<p>I’m guessing from your username that you are instate Mich., so that would make some sense to choose UM over UVa. Both are fantastic schools and you can’t go wrong. However, I have to disagree, UVa had a very diverse feel when we visited two weeks ago. I know that there seems to be a misconception that UVa is just “full up preppies”, but to see the school while in session completely blew that impression for us. My son, being a rather artsy/hipster kid, was thrilled to see all kinds of people on the grounds. There was racial diversity as well as nerds, artist types, goth, hipsters, athletes, and yes, preppies, hardly a homogeneous student body. As you can guess, son will be attending UVa in the fall! (we are instate).</p>
<p>Financial aid. It was really hard to turn down Echols. D:</p>
<p>Fallen, did you try appealing to the FA commity?</p>
<p>I don’t even have a package to appeal about. Instead of giving me an aid package April 6th, they added three additional requests for information and when I called they told me they were sure aid package wouldn’t be ready before May 1st.</p>
<p>Hard choice. We went back and forth with UNC. It came down to how much in loans to graduate with. Much better financial aid package at UNC. Parents chose UVA for me. I chose UNC and fewer loans. Both good schools. Two good choices. The good news is that I don’t have to go to tOSU. Go Tar Heels.</p>
<p>Financial aid. We are unlucky enough to live in a high cost-of-living area (OOS), and UVA fin aid counselor at DoTL told me they don’t reconsider on that basis. Maybe I should have put our request in writing, along with copies of our mortgage, property tax bill, auto insurance, etc., but fin aid counselor said it wouldn’t make a difference. UVA is my child’s first choice school but we must turn it down (including Echols).</p>
<p>I really wish uva to succeed its 3 billion capital campaign… so they could be more generous toward Financial aid like Princeton, Harvard :)</p>
<p>
Would you mind sending me your name? My dean would be interested in this. deanj “at” virginia “dot” edu</p>
<p>Financial aid. UVA, as expected, didn’t give out FA to international students.</p>
<p>D’s final three were Georgetown, UPenn and UVA. Ultimately went with UPenn as they had the best package. UVA only gave loans. UVA was daughters number one choice from the beginning.</p>
<p>hmmm seems UVA is losing some of its top admits due to financial aid. what a shame for all parties!</p>
<p>My son did pick UVa. UVa met 100% of my son’s financial need. Almost all of his choices came out to be about the same net price, except his second choice university. </p>
<p>His second choice school offered weak financial aid. His second choice school accepted him early action and had months to lobby him and invite him for the weekend, while he had much less time to get to know UVa. I didn’t want to take him to UVa for an extensive visit until after he was accepted, because I was afraid he would like it too much and be disappointed if he didn’t get in. </p>
<p>I’m very glad UVa is offering no-binding early action next year, for my daughter when she applies.</p>
<p>My son is choosing UVA, even though the financial aid is slightly better at William and Mary and VCU. It was not an easy choice, because the better aid and similar academic quality at W&M was attractive to him. W&M offered at Virginia Grant that UVA did not. I am not sure why…</p>
<p>Financial Aid is a substantial and valid reason for turning down any school. I would say that it’s a factor in most students’ decisions these days, whether UVa is on their list or not.</p>
<p>Financial aid. More loans and work study as aid than any other school’s package. Turning down Echols for merit aid/honors at a “lesser” school although S REALLY wants UVa.</p>
<p>There will always be other colleges that offer more merit aid than UVa. For some colleges, that is a huge part of their enrollment management strategy. There are some colleges that do not meet full need, but instead place most of their resources into merit aid. Often, second tier colleges would not be able to attract top students unless they offered large amounts of merit aid. These same colleges then often do not offer any need-based aid to anyone on the waiting list, or they only pick people from the waiting list who did not apply for aid. </p>
<p>I believe most first year merit aid at UVa is limited to the full Jefferson Scholarships (which I believe are privately funded?). </p>
<p>On the average, for need based aid, UVa comes out better than most other colleges. UVa is one of the rare state universities that offers significant need-based aid to out of state students.</p>
<p>I had a very hard time turning down UVA (Echols). But:
a) My other choice offered me more FA.
b) Two and a half hours is still too close to home.
c) Too many of my high school friends are attending.
d) I want to live in a big city.</p>
<p>Obviously all of these are really personal reasons and none are UVA’s fault. I can think of a lot of reasons why I should have chosen it and am still struggling with my decision. :/</p>
<p>I emailed you, Dean J. Thank you for your concern.</p>